180 Lunches

  • 26 in 26: Ciao Capri & L’Opossum

    New entries in the 26 in 26 challenge this week. We are so ahead on the challenge and I am so behind on the write ups. We ate at these two back in April [grimace emoji].

    Ciao Capri

    We are not the target demographic for Ciao Capri, it tends to skew much older than us. But it is the neighborhood restaurant we pass by to head to other places for ten years running. So the four of us popped and had a nice meal. The atmosphere doesn’t do enough to whisk you away from the strip mall exterior, but the food is a very traditional Italian menu and solid.

    L’Opossum

    When we started the ABC challenge in 2025 L’Opossum was high on the list, but it turns out there are way too many great letter “L” restaurants in Richmond. We finally got to it this year it was worth the wait. Fine dining with character, humor, and personality. The food mainly classical French with their own twist and delicious.

  • Ghost in the Shell

    There is an awesome new Ghost in the Shell show! That was exciting news to me recently shared by a friend at coffee. I was a fan of the original movie, had a poster even, and of the Stand Alone Complex series in the early 2000’s. But beyond that there hasn’t been much new to match my enthusiasm.

    On top of that it is animated by Science SARU, of Dandadan^ and many other great shows fame. Short episodes, beautifully animated action, and plenty of weird humor in between. Toss in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 coming this fall and Neuromancer coming in early 2027 and its a great time to be a fan of the genre.

    ^Do yourself a favor and enjoy the Dandadan theme song

  • Forever-ish Kitchen Tools

    I’ve been on a gradual journey to fill my kitchen with high quality, as close to forever tools since I bought my first house 20 years ago. There are a ton of outlets keen to give you a recommendation. But my go to, all the way back to the start (via PBS), has been America’s Test Kitchen. This video is a great summary of their picks that have stood the test of time. And it turns out I own some and can confirm:

    • Victorinox Fibrox Chef’s Knife – My first actual chef’s knife I bought w/ purpose. I have two others I rotate through now, but this one is still a workhorse.
    • OXO Locking Tongs – I own them in two sizes and they just do their job. No slipping, no accidently unlocking when you don’t want them to.
    • Technivorm Moccamaster – This was a last year replacement for what we thought was a killer coffee maker. Nope! The Moccamaster is pricy, but essentially automated pour over quality coffee.
    • RSVP International Colander – New purchase based on this video. What it replaced in our kitchen looked a lot like the one they dragged in the video.

  • The books of Joe Abercrombie

    2026 has unintentionally turned into a year of reading books from Joe Abercrombie. Historically this has been a losing formula for me. I read one book from an author, get excited, another, maybe another, and then I run out of steam. Not the case here, I am loving this run.

    The Devils Trilogy

    The first book in a new historical fantasy series that came out last year and I loved it. Think Suicide Squad, but a band of monsters employed by the Pope in 17th century Europe. I started here, but the next book isn’t coming till 2027, so I dug into his more recent work.

    The Age of Madness Trilogy

    A fantasy series that released from 2019 to 2023. It picks up a generation after the First Law books. Fantasy world reckoning with industrialization and capitalism. An excellent series, but I made the mistake of reading it out of order. Still a great story, but now the prior series is reading a bit like a prequel.

    The First Law Trilogy

    I should have started here, but my cautious wavering on author deep dives got the best of me. The series came out between 2006 and 2008, and was his first work. Turns out I was 100% wrong. Start here and enjoy. Traditional fantasy that borrows and also introduces new ideas. Excellent characters and now I know which ones will be merely history or feature prominently in Age of Madness.

  • It a Video! – July ’26 Ed.

    Summer is absolutely flying by. We have been busy traveling, working on projects, and just living life. I’m working on a Toronto Travel Log, and we are way ahead on the 26 in 26, but I am way behind on the write ups. In the mean time I’ll share a few videos:

  • Timberborn

    I don’t think this game has any right to knock another off my 50 best of the 2020’s, but boy oh boy does it have it’s hooks in me. Its the rare city simulator that can evoke my teenage nostalgia for 1993’s Sim City 2000. Timberborn does so with a three pronged approach:

    • Liquid physics: This is the novel feature it brings to the genre. Water has volume and flow that can be mastered or failed to feed, power, and grow your town.
    • Beavers! The theme, design, and art just work for me. The tech designs made from natural materials is a rich palette to for the developers to play with.
    • Balance: The learning, progression, and difficulty curves are well refined. Most of the tech tree feels intuitive. Meaning I’m not watching YouTube videos every 5 mins to play it. It leads to a loop where I understand the problem or goal and have the tools I need to creatively solve them.

    That has all led to some late nights in front of my PC. Jumping from one challenge or ambition to another. All credit to the game that can see me crawling into bed at 1 am and working through how I will revamp my power infrastructure for the 30 mins that follow. The answer is diversification and batteries to weather worst case scenarios.

  • Game Changer s8

    I guess when I love a show, I’ll just keep reminding anyone that visits here every time a new season drops. Two episodes of season 8 are out, Dropout is the best use of your streaming dollars, and there are a whole gang of other shows worth watching there too:

  • Cry Baby – Vince Staples

    Vince Staples newest album is a departure from the past decade of music he has released. At least in it’s production and instrumentation. The lyrics and sprit of his style persist at the core, but this is a distinctly new sound and I dig it.

    I loathed the early 2000’s era of music. While Limp Bizkit was topping the charts, I retreated into a backpack rap cocoon. That is not damning of all rap production that strays into other genres, but it does create a high bar for me at least. There have been plenty of albums that easily clear it though, notably:

    Cry Baby fits nicely with these high jumpers and I find myself coming back to it over and over again.

  • 26 in 26: Beauvine & Smokestack

    New entries in the 26 restaurants in 2026 challenge this week.

    Beauvine Burger Concept

    “What’s do you want for dinner?” in our house is regularly met by our kids with burgers, pizza, or BBQ. Where we live pizza and BBQ have great options, but burgers are an under served category. Trekking into the city opens up more options and maybe Beauvine should be at the top of that heap now. Tucked into the Main St. + Fan strip of restaurants, they offer up the bare basics to the lesser traveled artisanal path. All of it was great and pairs well with the duck fat fries.

    Smokestack Pizza

    The order stand outs at Smokestack probably go location, activities, and then the food. Seated next to the canal walk, at the foot of downtown Richmond, and in view of some great murals is really hard to beat. We are a pickleball family, but appreciate and will likely go back to try out Padel. Finally the food and drink. It was just OK pizza and cold beers, nothing to write off, but not worthy of a return on that alone. That said if we go back to play, the pizza and beer will hit the spot.

  • Desus Pieces

    The wilderness post Desus & Mero has been long and dull. The my world needed their funny and quick takes on the week in news, sports, and general bullshit. Mero hit his stride with Victory Light, but the closer it got to long form talk radio the less potent it became. Desus just started up a new channel and it is a return to form. 20 minutes of Julia and staff tossing him absurd stories from the headlines and him reacting with cutting jokes. Worth a watch every week.